USSR Pressing - Any information on the soundstage quality?

tommydoan84

tommydoan84

Member
Hi Akers,

I had a chance to come across some of the USSR Records(Most of them Classical) on Ebay from the Vinyl collectors in Russia. On the pictures, it looks great, most of them are Near Mint or Sealed. The prices are pretty high and costly. It's very attempting for me to purchase one or two just to have a listen or add up to my vinyl collections.

I looked online but couldn't find much info on the sound quality of these pressing. I need your help for advising me this topic.

I like classical music especially on LPs. To my personal taste, Mercury Living Presence label produces the most pure/natural sound of the classical pieces. If possible, can anyone with an experience on USSR pressing tell me how's the sound of the original/mint USSR record (blue/red/orange/black,etc labels) from the 60s or 70s compared to the sound of Mercury Living Presence classical records ?

Best and much appreciation, :music:
Tom
 
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Russian and eastern bloc pressings I find to be of high quality, which was a surprise to me. I have several classical pressings including Russian Orthodox choral music all from the Soviet era with Soviet Ministry of Culture approvals on them. Some sleeves are all in cyrillic, some are in english, obviously for export. The technical quality can be very good, good soundstage, ect. I have some that sound like there are mic placement issues or maybe they used only 2 mics. It's always a crapshoot but my experience has been generally good.
 
I' ve got several hundreds URSS made classical LPs, mainly because a few thousand russian immigrants brought their LPs with them and then sold them locally. All the pressings are very good (no clicks or pops, no warps). Sound quality depends a lot on the recording, which may have fluctuations (poor in the 50's, much better in the 70's, very good in the 80's as a general rule). For example, several of the Mravinsky recordings made in Leningrad are not so good from the recording quality point of view (although these are tremendous for their musical interest), but those of Rozhdestvensky in Moscow are excellent. I don't know much about the western recordings licenced to Melodiya.

My advice is that you give them a try before posting a large order.
 
I would not pay a lot of money for these records, especially with shipping from Russia. You should be able to buy them for cheap in the US.
 
I have perhaps a dozen various Melodiya recordings that were pressed in the West. The quality of the pressings is in line with the rest of the pressings from the given company (Decca, etc).

The recordings are usually good, but there sems to be a subtle difference in recording style/technique between the soviet engineers and German/British/American engineers. Not better or worse, just different.

All said I don't hesitate to buy a Melodiya recording if it's a work I want.

guiller said:
I don't know much about the western recordings licenced to Melodiya.

My advice is that you give them a try before posting a large order.
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To Vinyl1: Thanks for the advice. I'll just saw some good original Melodiya records from ebay in the US for a decent price. I'll give those a try first :)
To fastbike: Yeah, i have some record labels from Angel licensed from Melodiya as well. They're decent. That's what triggered my curiosity to own one of the original high quality USSR pressings for a new epereinence:)
 
fastbike said:
I have perhaps a dozen various Melodiya recordings that were pressed in the West. The quality of the pressings is in line with the rest of the pressings from the given company (Decca, etc).

The recordings are usually good, but there sems to be a subtle difference in recording style/technique between the soviet engineers and German/British/American engineers. Not better or worse, just different.

All said I don't hesitate to buy a Melodiya recording if it's a work I want.
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Sorry, perhaps I didin't express myself correctly: I agree that the quality of most Melodiya recordings edited by western companies is very good. What I don't know is what is the quality of a western recording, e.g. Mercury, pressed by Melodyia on a Soviet plant (perhaps intended for the internal soviet market?). I just know soviet and western pressings of soviet recordings!
 
With Soviet Melodiya pressings there are different coloured centre labels depending on where it came in the press run. 1-1,000 was one colour, then to 10,000 etc. I forget what stood for what, but I can check with a Russian friend who I'm sure knows. If you get a copy with from the 1st 1,000 it will be terrific and probably belonged to a member of the Politburo or some other high-ranking official as those were never put up for sale.

Generally the Russian pressings I have are quite good, though not always up to the very best Western production. The performances are frequently scintillating.
 
@ Fiddlefye: Can you check with your Russian friend on the color scheme of the record for the 1st -1000 or so? I'm kinda curious on this. Thanks :)
 
tommydoan84 said:
@ Fiddlefye: Can you check with your Russian friend on the color scheme of the record for the 1st -1000 or so? I'm kinda curious on this. Thanks :)
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I'll ask. Upon reflection I think that he told me it went: Red -> Blue -> Black, in that order. Makes sense when you think about it, given the politics of the time :-) I think all of the Melodiya I have are Blue and I think that's how most of the exports ran. The probability of ever seeing one from that first 1,000 run is negligible I'd say....
 
Thanks for the info Fiddlefye. Really appreciated :) Just for my curiosity, i've seen Pink, Orange, Yellow and White Melodiya labels on Ebay too. I wonder if they stay in between Red and Blue :D
Best, Tom
 
No, you were clear. I was just adding some different direct experience. I have not yet found a Russian pressing (other than a beat up Deep Purple album I bought for my son).

guiller said:
Sorry, perhaps I didin't express myself correctly: I agree that the quality of most Melodiya recordings edited by western companies is very good. What I don't know is what is the quality of a western recording, e.g. Mercury, pressed by Melodyia on a Soviet plant (perhaps intended for the internal soviet market?). I just know soviet and western pressings of soviet recordings!
Click to expand...
 
tommydoan84 said:
Thanks for the info Fiddlefye. Really appreciated :) Just for my curiosity, i've seen Pink, Orange, Yellow and White Melodiya labels on Ebay too. I wonder if they stay in between Red and Blue :D
Best, Tom
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All the ones I have are Navy Blue, though they're all from the 50's and 60's and perhaps things changed later on? I checked with my friend and he said I have it right. Keep in mind that the coding was for pressings made for and sold in the Russian market.
 
I have about 500 USSR vintage LPs in my collection (all are mint or un-played). Not all are classical but most are. Some we use as our "test the system" for sound and have exceptional sound. Not all are great recordings tho. Some of them you can hear the tape machine. Others are of course VERY good. My SO is Russian and found a very extensive collection pristine and all sealed from a record store in NYC which was throwing them in the trash.. Well needless to say they are safely in our possession. As I mentioned, when I ask my SO how does my system sound, she goes to the Russian/Soviet LP collection, pulls out an LP and gives me the nod or suggestion and she's been spot on and most (not all) of the LPs we have sound pretty good and some are stellar. So to the OP - there are some that are VERY good and some not so much (even some sealed that had tape machine noise - Live recordings).

Is there a particular LP or symphony etc that you are interested in? I can check our collection for it and get back to you after audition and let you know how I think it sounds.

I'm not really a classical buff but some of those LPs do sound mighty fine.

Cheers,
Bob
 
@ Bobrown14: Bob, thanks alot for a prompt and thorough reply on my post :)

What you had in your answer fits about just right to my interest in the USSR pressing. It's particularly the **sound quality** that i'm after; not much of the value or rareness of the Lps. Since i know too little or almost nothing about the USSR pressing quality, i would like to ask the opinions from the experienced like some of you in this thread about the sound quality of these pressings, before spending out a full load of money on them :)

Also, i'm not a big fan of a big symphony and orchestra. My ears lean toward a smaller set of sound or instruments like Concerto or Sonata particularly piano or Violin.

As for your kindest offer, below are a few of the USSR LPs that i spotted on Ebay but still hesitating to buy since they're pretty pricey and most of all don't know much about their sound quality. Can you take a look and see if any of them match to your collection ? If not, do you have any recommendation to the "high quality" USSR LPs for Piano/Violin Sonata or Concerto ? the i will chase after them on the net :) Much appreciated :)

USSR List of "interested" LP:
1) RICHTER - beethoven schumann LP mint- USSR CM03741 42
2) ARTIST / COMPOSER Wolfgang Schneiderhan: Beethoven, Brahms
TITLE: Sonatas for Violin and Piano
LABEL / CAT.No.: Melodiya, Mono M10 46983 GOST 5289-90 (red label)
3) YUDINA-piano.Mozart"Sonates #6,#18" MELODIYA C2543
4) ARTIST / COMPOSER Byron Janis: Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt
TITLE: Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt
COUNTRY / YEAR: USSR, 1986
LABEL / CAT.No.: Melodiya, Mono M10 47033 GOST 5289-80 (red label)

5) ALEXANDROV, ALEXANDER Mozart,Ph.E.Bach VSG C09325
 
I have a couple of Classical box sets that I picked up at a GW.
It looks like my two box sets are from the Апрелевский Ордена Ленина Завод or Aprelevka Plant Order of Lenin(from Google Translate).

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Sorry for the crappy pics........

So, are these straight USSR pressings and is that a good pressing plant?
 
A note: Melodiya pressings made in the USSR for the tourists and hard currency buyers and for export, were generally better than ordinary USSR pressings average Russians could purchase. Normally by 1962, Russian recording studios gained better equipment, better record pressing equipment, and also got modernized. Usually Melodiya classical recordings were done with simple microphone techniques and often not excessively doctored in post production. Usually most are of reasonably fine quality if the repertory is to your liking. Russian composers and the ballet scores are especially deserving of special mention and Russian Chamber music ensembles.
 
There are a few labels I will go out of my way to find but Melodiya pressings are not one of them. Not saying they are bad, as I have a number of them that I truly enjoyed, but I wouldn't go out and spend 50, or 100 dollars for an LP just because it had a Melodiya label on it.
 
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